Negotiators for the Screen Actors Guild and the major studios have reached a tentative agreement on a new two-year contract for the union's 120,000 members.
Sources close to the talks say the union's negotiating task force will be briefed today on the proposed agreement, which is expected to be voted on by SAG's 71-member national board on Sunday.
Actors have been working without a contract for nine months as previous attempts at negotiations with the studios collapsed.
The contract contains some minor improvements over previous offers but is largely similar to the one studios presented to SAG nine months ago. That is certain to raise questions about what the union accomplished by holding out so long to secure a deal after other talent unions secured their own contracts with the studios.
The agreement was hashed out after weeks of back-channel talks involving between SAG interim executive director David White and top media executives, principally Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Warner Bros. chairman Barry Meyer.
Talks were revived after the union's former chief negotiator was ousted by moderates who took control of SAG's board in elections last year.
The breakthrough came earlier this month when the sides reached a compromise over the most contentious issue: the expiration date of a new contract. SAG leaders insisted that their new contract run through June 2011 so that the union could line up its next round of negotiations with the expiring contracts of other Hollywood talent unions. The studios, however, wanted a three-year term, which would push SAG's contract expiration into 2012.
-- Richard Verrier
Â
'Arrested' gang returns with 'Sit Down, Shut Up'
It wasn’t designed with this purpose in mind, but “Sit Down, Shut Up†(7:30 p.m. Central Sunday, Fox; two stars) made me miss “Arrested Development†again.
The latter show died prematurely in 2006, after three hilarious seasons chronicling the travails of the Bluth clan. Frequent news reports saying an “Arrested†movie was possible taunted the show’s still-pining fans.
What made "Arrested" so distinctive was not just its stellar cast and skewed sense of humor but the intricacy of the show. There's nothing wrong with comedies that just makes people laugh, but, even when the execution fell short, the stories and jokes on "Arrested" were often laudably ambitious.
These days, "How I Met Your Mother" and "Flight of the Conchords" are the only comedies that are even attempting to play in "Arrested's" league. And as "Arrested" did, they mix heart with all the high-jinks.
The animated “Sit Down,†which chronicles the lives and foibles of teachers at a Florida high school, is far less inventive than “Arrested,†and “Sit Down’s†rapid-fire pace isn’t anchored by anything real or relatable. Much of the goofy crassness of the Bluth clan of “Arrested†was balanced by the awkward naivete of the young George Michael Bluth (Michael Cera), but “Sit Down’s†cynicism isn’t leavened by a similar sweetness.
The result is a show that feels brittle and manic. Jokes that would have been funny accompanied by an amusing reaction or a sprightly bit of physical comedy in a live-action show here come off as flat or mean. “Arrested†alum Will Arnett, for example, can’t leaven his “Sit Down†jock character with the neediness that could be read on the face of his “Arrested†character, Gob Bluth. And the kind of long-suffering nice guy that “Arrested’s†Jason Bateman plays again in “Sit Down†loses something when you can’t see the actor’s pained reactions to other characters’ shenanigans.
All the teachers are recognizable types: Helen Klench (Cheri Oteri) is the uptight librarian; Andrew Legustambos (Nick Kroll) is the flamboyant drama teacher; and Miracle Grohe (Kristin Chenowith) is the spacey science teacher who believes in an array of wispy New Age theories. You won't be surprised to find that the acting principle, Sue Sezno (Kenan Thompson), likes to say no.
The stereotypes are so predictable that the comedy is too, even if the humor is sometimes dementedly subversive (a sign in the teacher's lounge instructs people to "call a taxi" for the victim).
The least successful element of this comedy is the characters’ frequent references to the fact that they are on a TV show. “Can I get a flashback on that?†Larry asks when recalling a saucy memory. “I’m not going to test well,†another character laments. When “Arrested†made similar meta-jokes, they were more subtle and thus more funny.
The good thing -- and the bad thing -- about "Sit Down" is that everything flies by very quickly. The show is so fast-paced that if you didn't like one story or joke, another one comes along in seconds. That gives the show a certain kind of spazzy energy, even if it also makes life at Knob Haven High School seem exhausting.
Miss Manners:
DEAR MISS MANNERS: When our family went to my aunt's house for lunch, she had made a unique bread cake for dessert and she asked my dad what he thought.
CHINA: Macau Gaming Boom at a Cost
MACAU, Apr 17 (IPS)Beijing’s decade-old flirt with lucrative gambling in the booming casino town of Macau has gone decidedly sour.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar